“Thank you for that,” Lily said at the foot of the steps.

“Which part?” Chase asked quietly.

“Every minute of it. It was wonderful.”

“It was.” Chase closed her hands into fists or else she would’ve touched her again. “Good night, Lily.”

“Good night, Chase,” Lily murmured and waited a few moments as Chase walked away into the night. She took a deep breath. “Well.”

A cold nose rubbed against her hand, and she jumped. “Baily! You have to stop surprising me like that.”

“He thinks everyone loves him,” Sarah said, coming to the edge of the porch, her loose, blue-and-white checked flannel pants and a shapeless, long-sleeved T-shirt just visible in the faint light from the windows behind her. “Somewhat like my sister.”

“He’s right,” Lily said, scratching the ecstatic dog behind the ears and ignoring the unexpected comment about Chase.

“Have a nice walk?” Sarah asked.

“Yes. The lake is even more gorgeous at night,” Lily said, climbing the stairs, Baily glued to her side. She stretched and sighed. “And it’s later than I thought. Are you headed inside?”

“Mmm. I was just getting ready to turn in when Baily wanted to come out for one last sniff around. He’s always hopeful he’ll find the squirrel, but he never does.”

Lily laughed.

“I’m sorry,” Sarah said as she held the door for Lily, “but in all of the rush this afternoon, I forgot to mention that sick call is from six to seven every morning. Any campers who won’t be participating in the day’s activities can be seen then and given a medical excuse to exempt them from the day’s events.”

“That’s not a problem,” Lily said. “I’m used to being up early. Besides…”

“Besides?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, nothing.” Any other time, Lily would have confided her plans to her best friend, but the hint of censure every time Sarah mentioned Chase made her reluctant. She hadn’t seen Sarah in years, and she didn’t know Chase at all, beyond the obvious. Blushing and glad Sarah couldn’t see it in the dim light, she vowed to resist Chase’s charms before she did something she would regret.

* * *

Lily should’ve been tired, but she lay awake strangely energized by a day like none she’d ever experienced. She’d driven two hundred miles to leave behind a life that had grown gray and hopeless, without the passion and joy that had always given her purpose. She knew all the explanations for the weariness, the mental and physical exhaustion, the emotional deprivation that had taken its toll over so many months. But understanding was different than feeling.

What she felt now was not just the absence of that gray pall, but the excitement of reawakening passion for the world…and the people in it. Of course, she knew what that was all about too. In this new place, with the burdens lifted from her shoulders, surrounded by a sense of serenity that was completely different than anything she’d ever known, she could imagine herself a different person in a different place. That would pass, probably quickly, and along with that, whatever impulse had motivated her to invite a kiss from Chase Fielder. Even lying alone in the dark, she closed her eyes and shook her head. Whatever had she been thinking?